Room to Grow: Why More Australians Are Upgrading, Not Just Renovating

There's the obvious trigger for wanting more space — a new baby, teenagers who need their own space, or ageing parents. But the reasons for outgrowing a house have quietly expanded well beyond the nursery.

Family is number one

Family growth remains the number one driver of a home upgrade, and it's not hard to see why. A two-bedroom place that worked fine for a couple starts to feel tight the moment kids arrive and everybody needs a closing door.

But the list has grown

Whether for yourself or for others, working from home is still the new normal. As of August 2025, 36.2% of Australian workers were working from home at least some of the time compared to only about 5% before COVID ¹.

In the same period, over 50% of Australia’s 2.6 million small businesses were run from home, operating out of spare rooms, garages, or shared spaces ².

And for many of the same reasons, home gyms and wellness spaces are having a moment too. Gyms, sauna rooms and personal areas are becoming more of a consideration in home design rather than luxury extras.

Changing climate, rising costs

Here's a stat that surprises most people: over 80% of Australian homes have an energy efficiency rating of 2 stars or less ³. This means most of the country is living in homes that are hard to keep warm in winter, hard to keep cool in summer, and expensive to run either way.

Even going from 6-stars to the new minimum efficiency standard of 7-stars can save $450 on your yearly energy bills ⁴, leaving much more on the table in lower rated homes.

The upshot

Upgrading isn't just about running out of bedrooms anymore. It's about building a home that works for how people actually live, both for today and for tomorrow.

References

1 Debating the future of working from home, Parliament of Victoria, Parliamentary Library
https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/news/economy/wfh-paper/

2 ABS — Characteristics of Small Business, Australia, 2003
https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/7d12b0f6763c78caca257061001cc588/3c6dbd363359bddaca256e830080a6e8!OpenDocument

3 Over 80% of Australian homes carry a NatHERS rating of 2 stars or less.
Households in older, 1.7-star homes can spend up to six times more on heating and cooling
Energy Upgrades for Australian Homes
https://www.racefor2030.com.au/project/energy-upgrades-for-australian-homes/

4 Tents to castles: building energy efficient, cost-saving Aussie homes
https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/tents-castles-building-energy-efficient-cost-saving-aussie-homes/